Rachel Sauceda bought her two daughters with her to sign the younger one up for prekindergarten recently at Blanton. The district is offering online and in-person registration at various locations around ECSID. (Ruth Campbell | Odessa American)
In-person and online registration for prekindergarten in Ector County ISD has begun and it’s open all year.
“… Students can come and register any day throughout the year,” Director of Early Childhood Education Beatris Mata said. “… We want … our community to know that we are ready to serve their children …”
Some parents may be on the fence about sending their child to prekindergarten because they’re not sure if this is the right fit for their child.
“… Having this opportunity gives them time to process and think and get to learn a little bit more about our program so that they can make the best choice for their families for next school year,” Mata said.
If parents ask whether they should put their children in pre-k, Mata said she would say do it. They want to help students become kindergarten ready.
“… That’s our goal every single day, with every decision that we make. We know that the best way to go about that is is pre- k. Starting our students off at at a young age such as pre k 3, it just gives them such a great foundation so whenever they do enter kindergarten, they have those social skills. They have they have time to play with friends because plays such a big part of pre-k. They have time to learn just the most foundational pieces of mathematics, of reading; just being familiar with school processes. So whenever they do enter kindergarten, they’re ready and they’re excited …,” Mata said.
The district has seen the difference half day pre-k 3 and full-day pre-k 4 have made in kindergarten readiness. In 2022, the rate was 57 percent of students. That is 11 points higher than last year’s score and 24 percentage points higher than the score two years ago, the district’s website said.
“The cool thing about serving students at such a young age is seeing what the future of our district can be because of pre-k 3 and pre-k 4. We’re very blessed to have a school board and a superintendent who support this growth. They’re such big advocates for this expansion …,” Mata said.
Blanton has two monolingual pre-kindergarten classrooms.
Mata said they are hoping to have 300 students at the Odessa YMCA, which is the main pre-k 3 campus, next year. This year there are 188 students.
She added as people learn that the district has prekindergarten, they will be able to meet the 300 goal.
For more information, visit https://www.ectorcountyisd.org/prek
”We are ready for or 23-24 school year. We’re excited about the future of our pre-k program and of all of the conversations and celebrations to come. I am encouraging all of our parents even if you’re just thinking about it and you haven’t quite made that decision, please reach out to us and we’d be glad to share what curriculum we’re using, know how our days are structured. just all of those questions that our parents may have … so that they can make the best choice,” Mata said.
